doubletwist

No, Kenpo means "Fist Law" Ken = Fist Po = Law DT Is that Japanese or Hogen? What does 'kem'po mean? As someone said, it is Japanese. Kempo is the same as Kenpo. Both spellings are 'correct', and both of them are pronounced as 'kempo' It has to do with the translation of the kanji into english. DT

The point of this isn't to stop him on the first push. A majority of 'blow-hards' that are going to push you like that in the first place, are going to do it more than once. You've seen the little punks doing the pushing... Push once: Come on man... Push twice: come on man... PUsh third: .... you get the picture. The idea is that they get the first push free. At which point you need to let them know that you don't want to fight.... The second push you are ready for, and will be able to react accordingly. If the attacker has been mouthing off to you for some time, then you should even be ready for the first push. Unless you want to live your life in complete paranoia, you will never be ready for the first push if the attacker just decides to come out of nowhere and push you, but really, how often is that going to happen? Obviously it would be best to not put yourself in a position where some blow-hard is going to start pushing you, but that isn't always possible. DT

No, Kenpo means "Fist Law" Ken = Fist Po = Law DT

If done for a low push, then yes, you'd go down and in with the block. For a higher push, that block has to go softly towaed his left shoulder. Too hard, or too much across, and you'll throw his arms out into orbit (a Kenpo no-no!). Going downward 'wipes' the block, which will not turn his center line off the line of attack. You're right. I was forgetting the height of the hypothetical push. In this case, would an inward parry be a good alternative? Get his attack off to the side without throwing his arms out? Except that now that I think about it, this doesn't leave you in as good a position to check/trap the attacker's arms without bringing your left hand all the way around again. I guess it will still work, it just won't flow quite as well, or be quite as quick. Well if I'm not mistaken, a strike to the solar plexus [softer target] will be more likely to cause him to hunch over and close up; while a strike to the sternum [harder target] will cause him to stand and open up. Or am I completely off base here? As for what would happen if you miss the target, I guess that depends on where [and if] you hit. Again, it flows. This is a replacement move, which checks (but does not control) all three of his demensions. The strike rolls over simultaneously. You've basically took control of him, and delivered the coup de gras (little Savate lingo there) at about the same time he realizes it. Ok, you lost me there. Which means that a: that's more advanced than where I am now, AND b: it's time for me to go to bed. Yes, I am slowly getting into that aspect. Or rather, I've KNOWN intellectually about that aspect, but I am just now beginning to get my body to understand it. Although I was not the original poster on this subject, thanks for your great information. I do learn quite a bit from you and various others in these forums. DT

I think what it all boils down to is that there is a limited number of ways that a human being can block/strike/kick etc. The only REAL differences between the various styles of MA's is how they put those basics together. I guess Parker put it fairly succinctly: "When pure knuckles meet pure flesh, that's pure Karate, no matter who executes it or whatever style is involved." -- Ed Parker DT

Interesting. Can't say I've heard of any of those techniques. Not that I'm an expert on the subject As far as simplifying the techniques, my instructor was talking about this the other day. We have "Clutching Feather's" as the first technique for Orange Belt. It is a short, three beat move. The first technique for 2nd Black is the extension for Clutching Feathers. According to our instructor, in the 50's and 60's, Ed Parker taught the entire thing as the VERY first technique you learn. I assume that enough people were having trouble with it that Parker decided to add the simplified techniques for Yellow, and reduce some of the others to a more basic form. DT PS. Mr Piper likes to occasionaly give us a taste of the more advanced stuff. Kind of like a carrot to show us what we're working towards. He taught a couple of us the full Clutching Feathers extension this week. I have to say that it turned a rather "so-so" technique to a "kick-@ss" technique [no pun intended ]. He asked me, as a bit of homework, to write out every step & every motion of the technique. I guess as a way of showing how much I can already do in a short period of time, even as a Yellow belt. It turned out to be 10 beats, 29 total motions, which I can already do in under 6 seconds. I'm sure that I probably missed a couple motions, so no guarantee of accuracy, but here is what I came up with for the full Clutching Feathers . For those who are not familiar with Kenpo, only the first 3 beats are taught for Orange belt now. The rest of it is taught for 2nd Black.

Well, my Kenpo dojo is in North Richland Hills, but based on what you're looking for, it might not be right for you. We don't do a whole lot of sparring, though we do some. And we usually do sparring for belt-tests. We also don't do a lot of conditioning. We are expected to do that on our own, although I am trying to get both of these limitations changed. I want to do more sparring/conditioning too. It is a small school, generally there are between 3-8 students in a class. A few times we've had as many as 14 ppl there at once. Mostly we focus on the self-defense techniques that American Kenpo is known for. You are more than welcome to come by and watch/participate in a free class to see if it is something you'd be interested in. The school is located at 7308 Grapevine Hwy, North Richland Hills, TX I *THINK* the number is (817) 595-0440 [dont' hold me to that though]. Adult classes are 7-8pm on Mon & Wed, 7:30-8:30 on Tues & Thurs, and 11-12am on Sat. although sometimes the classes go long [had a nice 2 hour class this past Saturday]. PM me or Send me an IM on AIM and I can give you directions if you want. I will most likely be there this Thurs & Sat if you want to come by and check us out. If we aren't what you're intersted in, well you suck! JUST KIDDING! Seriously if we aren't what you want, good luck in finding something. I'm not really familiar with what else is in the FT Worth Area. DT

"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." - Gen. George S. Patton Student: "How long does it take the average person to get a black-belt?" Teacher: "The average person never gets a black-belt." "To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill." Sun Tzu "everyone has a plan and then they get punched in the mouth" mike tyson If you can't dazzle them with dexterity, baffle them with bullsh@@. DT

Um... use a belt-buckle? [ducking] DT

Well, in AK the 2nd technique we learn [Alternating Maces] is against a two-hand push, although it is focused on a lower [belly level] push, there's no reason it wouldn't work against a higher push. It does involve striking the opponent though. Without getting into the details of stance etc, I'll give you a quick rundown of the technique: Assuming you are in a neutral position [legs a little apart, facing opponent, possibly with your hands up in a "hey I don't wanna fight you" pose] As the push comes in, you step back with the left foot while doing an inward block with the right hand [possibly with a bit of downward push]. This will leave him probably off balance with his hands together pointing to his right and down.. Immediately [and I mean immediately. It is almost done at the same time as the inward block] do a left vertical punch with the left hand into the attacker's chest/solar plexus. This is done to stop the attacker's foward mostion [and where a good solid forward bow comes into play for your stability]. You then use your left hand to check the attacker's hands, keeping them down and to the left, while rotating counter-clockwise and doing a back-knuckle strike to the attackers temple. Then cover out and get the hell away [always the last step in Kenpo when possible. hehe] Of course, if you REALLY don't want to "strike" the attacker, you could just do the step-back/block, and then instead of doing a vertical punch, just slam your open hand out to his chest to stop his motion. and then check his hand down without the back-knuckle strike. Then use the opportunity to get out/get away from the wall if you're at that point. I'm sure there are other techniques to deal with a two-hand push, but I'm only a Yellow belt so I haven't learned them yet. Hope that's useful to you... I am interested in hearing other possibilities espcially ones that don't involve striking. DT

So I had my first "ground-fighting" day in Kenpo last night. This is what we went over. The main gist of the lesson was "Don't go to the ground if you can help it, and if you do go to the ground, do everything in your power to get back up" We covered a few things we could do if we were knocked down, but the attacker was still standing. We use two positions on the ground. 1. Right on our back with our legs tucked up and hands guarding head/torso or 2. A bit on our side, up on one elbow with that hand guarding side of head, the bottom leg curled under [so they can't stomp on it], the upper arm guarding head/torso, and the upper leg cocked and ready to kick. From that second position it is easy to roll over and rotate on your elbow to keep your leg between the attacker and your head at ALL times. [Yes, this would obviously hurt on pavement/glass etc, but it's better than getting kicked in the head We learned to jam their knee to break their balance if they are stupid enough to step in and try to hit us; and hook our leg around theirs to bring them down to the ground [giving us time to roll away and get up hopefully ] After that, we learned the basics of what a bjj guy will try to do. We started in the guard position, and had the guy on top try to bring a leg out into a half-mount. While the guy on bottom wrapped his legs around and arched his back to try to stop him. Obviously This won't work in the long term against someone who's been training BJJ, but what it does is gives us enough time to bring our striking into play. If the bjj guy is used to fighting within the rules [even the fairly rough rules of UFC type fights], there are still a lot of things they will not be expecting that can be used against them to try to get out and get back up as quickly as possible. Things like eye-gouges, ripping the ears etc. We also learned, as a previous post mentioned, how easy it is to modify our stand-up techniques to be useful on the ground. Again with the main objective of getting them off you long enough to get back up. I guess the main reason for this is that one of Kenpo's [EPAK anyway] focuses is on dealing with multiple attackers. You can do this standing up, but if you are on the ground and there are multiple attackers, you are basically screwed. Anyway, that's what I learned about ground-fighting last night. I definitely wouldn't want to fight a BJJ guy under his rules, but in the street, I can easily see the weak points in the way they do things. so I definitely feel that I have a fighting chance to get out in one piece. DT

Here is one of my favorite "quotes" [maybe a little long to be considered just a quote ]. I think it is particularly fitting at this time: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. [...] This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." -Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 You can see the entire speach at http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/ike_chance_for_peace.html DT

Well, in my precinct, with the exception of the Presidental race, it was hardly worth bothering to be an "educated" voter. 90% of the items being voted on were uncontested. Mostly for judges. The only ones that had more than one choice were the Prez, a House of Rep seat and the County Tax Assessor. Oh well... I voted. First time ever. DT

We [AK] also use a stance with the rear-foot facing forward, with the exception that the heel is on the ground. This is our "forward bow", which is used for instance when throwing a reverse punch. The twist from the neutral bow [rear foot @ 45deg], to the forward bow [rear-foot pointing foward] gives us the added power to the punch, as well as bracing us against the floor. The stability difference between having your heel off the floor, and having it planted is quite significant. Not slamming your style/stance, just describing ours. Personally, as pathetic as it sounds, my foot flexibility is still bad enough that it is difficult for me to be in that stance with my heel down, so I often find myself with my heel up anyway. I'm working on that though... DT

I've had a similar injury. Was sparring and wasn't wearing my shin pads. I did a round-house kick and my oponnent brought up his knee. My shin, just below my knee hit his knee. Wow that hurt. But the pain mostly went away in a few hours. After that it was just a dull pain with no visible bruise. Until about 3 days later. I was riding my motorcycle [sport bike, so my legs were tucked under pretty good]. After about 2 hours of riding, we stopped for lunch. I got off the bike and nearly fell over. I could barely put any weight on that leg. Then I noticed it had swelled quite nicely [still no visible bruise]. I managed to get back home, in much pain, and my leg hurt like that for almost a week more. [in spite of using ice and tiger-balm]. Eventually it did stop hurting. If it had lasted any longer I would have gone to the doctor. So here's hoping for a quick recovery for ya... DT

Hmm... This'd be a good time fore me to make up a good workout/pump compilation: D'yers Eve - Metallica Worlds Collide - Powerman 5000[?] Let the Bodie's hit the floor - ? Break Stuff - Limp Bizkit Aenima - Tool Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine System of a Down (Limited Edition) [Album] Whatever - Godsmack You - Candlebox Symphony of Destruction - Megadeth Pretty Hate Machine [album] - NIN Vast [album] - Vast [Visual Audio Sensory Theater] Good s**t Of course, this is just my workout/pump-up music. I do enjoy other types for other occasions... DT

I get my lazy butt off the chair and go to class. That's about as extreme as I get! DT

I BELIEVE That this is it: http://www.fearthepenguin.net/~ender/pics/kenpo_kanji.jpg DT

My current school does not really do any ground-work. I believe about once a month or so there will be some grappling done on a Saturday, but I have not been there for any of those yet. THe first school I attended had a bjj brown-belt who would teach a bjj class before the normal adult class 2-3 times a week. I wish my current school did more ground-work, but at the same time, my head is already stuffed full with all the stuff we're learning. DT

My style is American Kenpo [aka. Parker Kenpo]. Our lineage, I don't really know yet, although I did briefly study at a school in California run by John Sepulveda who recieved his black-belt directly from Ed Parker. However, as I only made it to Yellow belt there, I never actually had a class run by Mr. Sepulveda. His black-belt instructers however were very very good! I didn't know it at the time, but my very first sparring experience [in my very first Kenpo class ever] was with Larry Beltramo, who it turns out is a world-champion in sparring. So now, now I figure, no matter who I spar with, or how bad they kick my butt, I can always say, "I've sparred with better!" haha. It'll be great to get the Kenpo/Kempo guys to come out of hiding here! There should be some great knowledge transferred, and I know I sure need as much as I can get my hands on! DT

The following answer was found here: http://www.urbin.net/EWW/MA/KF/3D.html#Differ Hope that helps DT

I am currently a yellow-belt in American Kenpo. If I get off my @ss and study the material, I should be able to test for my Orange belt in a few weeks. Aside from a brief period of TKD as a 5th grade magnet class, I have only done Kenpo. At the level I am now, I could learn new things from any art. And I'm open to learn other ways, even if it's just to learn ways to beat it. Just kidding, I love learning new things. DT

Keep in mind, that space costs $$, especially in large cities. Then again, even in those areas, there are people who teach out of their garage. I'm in the DFW area, and we pay $89/month for 3 classes a week [although as long as the room isn't full, you can really go as many times as you want]. Even in California, with super-high space-rent, my school was $95/month for unlimited classes [including a BJJ class 4 times a week]. If you ask me, anyone charging more than that had better have a darn good reason DT

Well, regardless of style, the quality of the school is probably the most important factor. A bad school of a good art will do you more harm than good in the long run, so focus on checking out at least several of the schools in your area, and watching [and/or participating in] at least one class of each [many schools will give you a free class]. If the school won't even let you watch a class, you probably don't want to go there. I may be biased, but based on your statements, I'd say American Kenpo could be a good match. It isn't what you'd call a "Japanese" art, but it was designed with the best parts of many MA's put together based on scientific principles. There's a lot of self-defence based work. We do some kicking but not a lot of the high/spinning stuff that TKD styles do. There are a lot of punches/strikes, and depending on the school, they may also offer some BJJ [grappling] to round off the training, although it doesn't focus on the ground fighting. American Kenpo is also known for it's hand-speed, and ability to deal with multiple attackers. Here are a couple links with history/info: http://www.americankenpo.com/dedication.html http://www.kenpokarate.ie/default.htm I have really been enjoying Kenpo, although at the moment I'm having trouble putting it into words DT

Now I'm hardly an expert on TKD sparring, [ I do American Kenpo], but does that rule include blocking your opponents kicks? I mean sure, you need to learn to take a hit/kick, but being not allowed to even block them seems pretty lame. So as long as your allowed to block, then block. In Kenpo we learn that every block is a strike, so don't just block, block with feeling. It's not "attacking below the belt", it's blocking hard. Which is what you're going to want to do in a real life anyway. If someone kicks you, and you block it, you want them to seriously reconsider kicking you again. Learn the various nerves in the leg [and arm], and when you do your block, if you are able to aim the block well, even if you don't have any power, it will be very effective. Granted, this is difficult, I'm not very good at that part yet, but a well placed block can leave the opponents limb numb. Just my non-TKD $.02 DT